The Taguig City government is giving 3,000 residents the chance to earn extra income through its Cash-for-Work program.
The project is in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Department of Environment and Natural Resources under the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation fund.
Launched in 2015, Cash-for-Work allows indigent, unemployed, underprivileged or distressed individuals to earn for 10 days—75 percent of the daily minimum wage set by the Department of Labor and Employment—as they participate in or undertake preparedness, mitigation, relief, rehabilitation or risk reduction projects and activities in their communities or in evacuation centers.
In Taguig, beneficiaries of the program are beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), solo parents, drug surrenderers, persons with disability, and senior citizens who can still work.
The 3,000 CFW beneficiaries will be assigned to do different work in 10 days. The first 1,000 will do urban gardening in vacant and unused lots across the city, while the first 2,000 recipients will help in the clearing operations of water lilies in Hagonoy Creek along Circumferential Road 6 or C-6.
Water lilies that can be used will be processed to create handicrafts under the city’s Waterlily Livelihood Center headed by City Councilor Gigi Valenzuela-de Mesa.
The rest of the water lilies will be used for charcoal briquetting and as compost for urban gardens and farms.
“Taguig City is also at risk when it comes to climate change. That’s why we are very grateful for this opportunity because it will not only generate an extra income for our constituents but also encourage them to help in maintaining cleanliness of our environment,” Taguig City Social Welfare chief Nikki Rose Operario said. Joel E. Zurbano
The project is only one of many implemented by the government to ensure the welfare of Taguigeños.
The city’s social welfare department has already increased the burial assistance to qualified residents–families of indigent persons who have been Taguig residents for at least five years prior to their death—from P15,000 to P20,000 in 2016.
World War II veterans and their spouses, including those listed as widows of WWII veterans, can also avail of burial assistance amounting to P20,000, up from the previous P10,000.
The city government also provides interventions for the prevention of violence and child trafficking or exploitation through community education, among others.